Strange character in Info.plist file causes problems with packaging automation

[grahampugh]

Describe the bug
There is a strange character in the Info.plist file of Quicksilver.app, on line 220. the string appears empty in some editors, but when pasted into GitHub, the non-printable character appears:

			<key>NSKeyEquivalent</key>
			<dict>
				<key>default</key>
				<string>�</string>
			</dict>

Unfortunately, this character causes parsing of the plist file using python's plistlib module to fail.

This causes the AutoPkg recipe which packages up Quicksilver for import into Mac software enterprise management tools such as Jamf Pro and Munki to fail. See autopkg/homebysix-recipes#297 for more details.

For information, AutoPkg is the most-used solution for automating Mac software management in the enterprise.

I assume this � character is an unseen artefact not required for the software to run, and could be safely removed?

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install python 3 on a Mac.
2. Download and mount the Quicksilver 1.6.1 installer DMG
3. Run python3.
4. Run the following commands to induce the error:

>>> import os.path
>>> import plistlib
>>> app = '/Volumes/Quicksilver/Quicksilver.app'
>>> plistpath = os.path.join(app, "Contents", "Info.plist")
>>> with open(plistpath, "rb") as f:
...     info = plistlib.load(f)
... 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 2, in <module>
  File "/Library/AutoPkg/Python3/Python.framework/Versions/Current/lib/python3.7/plistlib.py", line 950, in load
    return p.parse(fp)
  File "/Library/AutoPkg/Python3/Python.framework/Versions/Current/lib/python3.7/plistlib.py", line 260, in parse
    self.parser.ParseFile(fileobj)
xml.parsers.expat.ExpatError: not well-formed (invalid token): line 220, column 12

Expected behavior
plistlib should be able to read values from Quicksilver.app/Contents/Info.plist.

What version of macOS?
macOS 10.15.5

What version of Quicksilver?
1.6.1

[skurfer]

I’d expect that sort of junk from Python 2, but… anyway.

I assume this � character is an unseen artefact not required for the software to run, and could be safely removed?

It’s the character that represents ⎋ (Escape) where it defines the ⌘⎋ shortcut for the “Get Current Selection” service. So it can’t be removed, but there might be another way to represent it. I’ll take a look. Thanks.

[grahampugh]

For info, AutoPkg uses python 3.7 these days.

[skurfer]

I think I was able to fix this. Give this test build a try. It should be identical to the current release, except for that one value in the property list.

It sounds like you might have access to a large number of Macs, so could you do me a favor? Run the test build on a totally clean system and make sure selecting text or a file and hitting ⌘⎋ pulls the selection into Quicksilver? It seems to work on my system, but I want to make sure I’m not benefitting from a cached value somewhere.

[grahampugh]

Hi Rob Thanks for working on this. Typing Cmd-Esc definitely worked for a selected file (once all the macOS security prompts have been negotiated). On selected text in an email, the Cmd-Esc key combination also invoked Quicksilver, but the text was not there. The audible beep that denotes that the operation could not be done was heard before Quicksilver popped up. I’m not normally a Quicksilver user (though it does look cool, I max start!), so I don’t have much experience to know if that is normal. Cheers Graham

…

On 11 Jul 2020, at 15:58, Rob McBroom ***@***.***> wrote: I think I was able to fix this. Give this test build <https://qsapp.com/archives/downloads/Quicksilver%201.6.1-esc.dmg> a try. It should be identical to the current release, except for that one value in the property list. It sounds like you might have access to a large number of Macs, so could you do me a favor? Run the test build on a totally clean system and make sure selecting text or a file and hitting ⌘⎋ pulls the selection into Quicksilver? It seems to work on my system, but I want to make sure I’m not benefitting from a cached value somewhere. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2527 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABMIVZJMPO6BTU4OAJ7ZA43R3BVZNANCNFSM4OWMCM6Q>.

[skurfer]

There are some apps where it doesn’t work, but it sounds like the keystroke was recognized which is the main thing I was worried about. Thanks for checking.

[grahampugh]

Are there any plans to release this fix? It would be good to prevent AutoPkg from complaining to me every day :)

[skurfer]

Actually, we might need to revert the change I made. I noticed ⌘⎋ wasn’t working reliably lately, and I think I see why.

So maybe it was cached on my system before.

[grahampugh]

This seems to be a specific problem with the plistlib module of python. Apple's APIs don't have the problem.

So long as the version printed on the website https://qsapp.com/download.php is always updated and matches the actual application version, I can live with scraping the website to obtain the version.

EDIT: I've solved the problem by using functionality in python's Foundation module to read the plist.

[skurfer]

OK. Sorry I couldn’t be more help. I’m curious about that Foundation module. Can you send me a link?